We were pretty underwhelmed by the iPhone 16e when it debuted earlier this year, mostly due to its $599 price tag, which makes it a poor replacement for the budget-oriented iPhone SE. And now that the iPhone 17 has debuted, the 16e makes even less sense. For $200 more, you get a larger and better screen with ProMotion, support for MagSafe wireless charging, a zippier processor, two cameras instead of one — and double the storage. Sure, that price difference hurts a bit, but I think the iPhone 17 is still a better deal since it’s not nearly as limiting as the iPhone 16e, which should have been priced closer to $500 to take on something like the Pixel 9a.
Last fall, I argued that the vanilla iPhone 16 was a smart buy given its revamped CPU and support for Apple Intelligence, and I think that remains true for the iPhone 17 with its many new features and identical price point. While I’m sure Apple would love for more customers to jump to the $999 iPhone Air or $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro, it’s still hard for a lot of people to stomach spending four figures on a smartphone. The ultra-thin Air will likely be a hit with influencers and the style-obsessed, and power users will have a ball with the iPhone 17 Pro’s more capable camera array. For everyone else, the iPhone 17 remains a solid device that will serve you well for many years.
The addition of ProMotion support alone removes one of the feature gaps between the plain iPhone and the Pro models. It allows for a variable screen refresh rate of up to 120Hz, compared to the 60Hz limit of previous years. In practice, that means that scrolling through websites and your social media feeds will look smoother and less headache-inducing. You’ll notice the difference immediately — 60Hz screens look unbearably choppy and slow once your eyes have gotten used to something faster.
And before Android fans jump in to brag — yes, we know that mid-range Android phones have offered high refresh rate screens for years. Apple is undoubtedly slow to react here, but the upgrade is still worth celebrating. The iPhone 17’s screen isn’t just smoother than before, it genuinely looks better, according to Engadget Senior Reporter Billy Steele. “The difference between this new model and my iPhone 16 Plus was immediately apparent,” he wrote in his hands-on. “Colors are more vivid, details are sharper and it’s just more pleasant to look at.”
iPhone 17
(Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
When it comes to cameras, the iPhone 17 improves its ultrawide shooter to 48 megapixels, joining the 48MP main sensor. But the big camera upgrade is actually on the front of the phone, thanks to the new Center Stage camera. It’s been bumped to 18MP from 12MP, but more importantly, Apple also introduced a square sensor that lets you jump from landscape to portrait orientations without rotating your phone. I’ve already gone deep on why the square selfie sensor (which is available on all iPhone 17 models) is a big deal, but here’s one key takeaway: “By making it easier to take selfies, it follows that you’ll start to take even more of them, ultimately tying yourself into Apple’s ecosystem even further.”
And speaking of features available on all of the new iPhones, the vanilla iPhone 17 also supports Dual Capture, which lets you record video using the front and rear cameras at the same time. Center Stage keeps your face in the middle of the frame during those shots as well, which might make Apple’s implementation of Dual Capture more effective than what we’ve seen from Samsung and other phone makers. I could have seen Apple gatekeeping this feature for the more powerful iPhone Air and 17 Pro models, but it’s nice to see it on the vanilla entry. Similar to selfies, it only benefits Apple if you’re using your devices more to produce content, and I could see Dual Capture footage becoming a big deal on Instagram and TikTok.
While Apple is keeping the iPhone 16 around at $699, it genuinely makes more sense to jump straight to the $799 iPhone 17 for all of the reasons mentioned above. (But if you find a good deal on a refurbished iPhone 16, that’s another story. It’s still a very capable phone, and it’s compatible with Apple Intelligence features as well.) Aside from lowering the price – something I don’t see Apple ever doing – there’s not much else the iPhone 17 is missing. And for anyone who needs something more fashionable or powerful, the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro are right there.
The only missing hole in the iPhone lineup is a budget option that’s cheaper than the $599 iPhone 16e – hopefully, that’ll be something a future iPhone 17e might be able to solve.
